FOAFMap.net is online !

As I’m finally satisfied with the code I wrote, here’s a first public version of FOAFMap.net, a “not-beta Semantic Web2.0 geolocation mashup” (nice, isn’t it ?!).

Regarding the previous version of the tool, here are the main improvements:

• Support for Relationship vocabulary (that I introduced in PHOAF recently). So if you use rel:xxx instead of foaf:knows to manage your friends, the tool will find them anyway;
• Group management. As I explained here, PHOAF can handle foaf:group, and this feature have been integrated into FOAFMap, so that you can use it to display communities. Thanx Tom for suggesting it;
• Cache. As you may see, it can be really long to parse a file, especially when there are a lot of foaf:knows relations. A cache system is now available, so that you can save the created map to display it more quickly later. Just check the appropriate checkbox when submitting your profile to enable. You’ll also be listed in users directory when using cache system.
• Tags. FOAFMap.net automagically gets “Tags” from your FOAF profile. Actually, these tags are your foaf:interest. Tags are identified and mapped thanks to their URI, as people can use different labels (with dc:title) for the same one; eg: FOAF, ”Friend of a Friend’ for http://foaf-project.org. And, indeed, you can see which profiles are related to a specific tag.

Well, as you can see, what was at the begining just a small script to render FOAF files on a GoogleMap is now an more complex (and friendly, I hope) tool that takes ideas from both Semantic Web and Web2.0.

I think this could be a Semantic Web answer to geolocation tools such as frappr.com. The main advantage is that you own the data, and the tool just display it. If your blogging software, or wiki, creates a personnal/group FOAF file, you can use the tool to locate people, but data is still yours.

Some may insist on the privacy point, as there’s no logging system. Yet, as all data displayed on the tool is publicly available on the web, I don’t think that’s an issue. Anyway, you can drop me a mail if someone else has listed your profile and you want to remove it.

Finally, I’ll submit FOAFMap.net to SFSW06 scripting challenge, and will certainly release code (GPL-ed), so that you can use for Intranet or private working groups.

Have fun !

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• About

  This is the personal website of Alexandre Passant, PhD student in the Semantic Web and Social Software area.

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  • doap:store
  • FOAFMap
  • MOAT Project

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